“Happy and successful cooking doesn't rely only on know-how; it comes from the heart, makes great demands on the palate and needs enthusiasm and a deep love of food to bring it to life.”
- Georges Blanc, Ma Cuisine des Saisons!

March 10, 2008

Turkish Ibrik is my "Show us your Metal" entry to Jai and Bee of "Jugalbandi" blog's "Click" event with the theme of "Metal" this February. My thanks to all the judges this month and JaiBee too!:)

About Ibrik:Ibrik is long handled Turkish coffee pot which is traditionally used to brew coffee in Turkey. It was originally used to make coffee on hot desert sand but can be used on stove top too. It comes in different sizes, from 1 cup like this pot to large capacity as well. Ibriks are made of copper, brass and stainless steel. This particular genuine Ibrik from Istanbul is a gift from somebody. I tried making coffee once in this pot and now it sits pretty on my fireplace mantle! You can buy the modern Ibriks here and how to make Turkish coffee in Ibrik is here.

Masoor dal Khichdi, cooked in the Microwave is my entry to "Microwave easy cooking" which is hosted by Srivalli of "Cooking 4 all seasons" with a theme of "Rice dishes" this month. Thanks for hosting Sri!:))

About Khichdi:WIKI says "Khichdi literally means mish-mash or hodge-podge mixture, is an Indian dish that contains a combination of rice,one or more lentils and spices. Khichdi is commonly considered to be a North, East, West India's comfort food served with Kadhi and was the inspiration for the Anglo-Indian dish called kedgeree".In southern part of India, we make a somewhat similar dish called BisiBele Bhath or Sambhar Rice which has even more and different ingredients than this dish and is our own style comfort "Khichdi" of the south! :)

Microwave Masoor dal Khichdi:Khichdi is a mixture of rice and various dals cooked with flavorful spices, usually it's thinner and wetter than the usual Pulao or Biryani. Cooking Khichdi in MW is relatively easy since it's a one pot dish. Every MW is of different power strength, so you will have to make that judgment for how long to cook and how much water to add to the rice and dal mix, so it cooks evenly until soft.Adjust the spices to your taste. This is how I made it.

To make the Khichdi in the Microwave:You need:1 cup long grain rice, 1/2 cup Masoor dal (red lentils) washed and drained, 1/2 cup 1/2" cubed Carrots, salt, 2 cups or more water and 1/4 cup Tomato sauce or 2 tbsp Tomato puree, more or less according to your liking.(You may soak rice in 2 cups of water for 15 mins before adding this to the MW bowl if you like)Season:1 tbsp oil, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 2 tsp finely grated or ground ginger.Spice powders:1 tbsp Coriander seeds pd, 1 tsp Cumin seeds pd, 1/2 tsp Garam masala, 1/2 tsp or more Kashmiri chilli powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder.Garnish:1 tbsp chopped Cilantro, 1 tsp Ghee, cucumber slices or cucumber Raita.How to make:1. Take a glass bowl, big enough to hold 4 cups of liquid. Add oil, microwave for 1 min on high.2. Now, add all the seasoning ingredients, cover and heat for 30 seconds or more until ginger gets reddish color. Open and add spice powders, mix well.3. Add rice, lentils, Carrots, water and cook without covering the bowl for 6-8 mins on high/100% power. Make sure rice and lentils are almost cooked before adding tomato. Cook for few more mins if not done, adding more water if necessary.4. Pour in the tomato sauce, salt, mix well. Cover the bowl with the plate this time and cook at 50% power for 4 or more mins until everything is completely cooked and still little wet in texture, not very dry.5. Take the bowl out, adjust the salt and heat. Add in cilantro, mix the Khichdi well.Serve with Cucumber slices or Raita and a tsp of ghee added on top. You can serve this with Pickle, papad, or plain yogurt too. Tastes better after few hrs but tends to get a bit drier as it cools. Enjoy!:)

TC, since this pot is not used well enough, you will get a metallic taste but if you use everyday, it will make a wonderful cuppa like any other coffee pot!:)I think stainless pot would probably be best to use. This is very old traditional way of making coffee, got to get used to the brass and copper taste!

Nams, I understand. It's not easy at all to cook in the MW, I did this dish only for Sri's event. Otherwise, it's always stove top for me or oven for me! :)It's specially hard to do the tadka in the MW!

Thank you for the reply too Vanamala! Loved the subzi! :)

Cham that's so true! Looking at it, you immediately think "what's that?" if you have never seen it before!:D

What a lovely "click " . i just love both pics the first one little more. Next Vow is what we discussed. Post it if you can easily. and enjoy the vacation on my behalf too :) . MEC is rice this month ? i dint know that, i am going to send one yummy dish to Srivalli then . Its alwasy nice to read your posts and this one is an addition to that. Hugs to you .

Pooja, thank you so much. I will post one dish as soon as possible here with that veg and then link to your announcement post when you do announce it with your logo. Yeah, MW-rice is easier than other dishes to cook, have fun cooking. See you tomorrow. Good night!:)

Meera, more the better, post it. Massor dal is the easiest to cook in the MW, isn't it? Tastes great too. Can't wait to see your's!:))

never seen ibrik till date. that is really pretty to look at. have u ever used it inbrewing the coffee?and that kichidi is making me sooooooooo hungry!!! i had very light lunch today and cant wait to get back to home and eat something before i die of hunger;) been busy with office work. i had my lunch on my desk!!! donno when i can get back to home.u have a wonderful day ashakka:) see ya later...

Thanks Kalai, glad I posted that Ibrik here! Hope you try the Khichdi!:)

Sia, I did use that Ibrik once. It's very small, just holds about one cup. But now looks pretty on the mantle!;DIf you use equal amount of dal and rice, Khichdi is a great diet food too, make it. It tastes better next day, so make it for 4 people at once and chill it!:)I have been cleaning the kitchen since morning. It's almost 1pm, just had yogurt, rice, pickle and khara chutney, didn't have anything else to eat!:P

Hello AshaI am visiting Aroma after a long time and have enjoyed myself sitting back and reading on so many posts I had missed..Wonder how you handle both the blogs so well..The Ibrik is a new thing to me though I've had turkish coffee before..The khichadi looks nice too :)Did you get my mail?

I don't why I can't see the updates in the blog directory , "connect" even after I cleared the cache..!That metal piece is really interesting, haven't heard of it..Ok, Now, give me a spoon and let me eat that rice with some pickle.. oh yumm.. am waiting for tomorrow, will get mother's preparation like pickles, fried fish, beef.. yumm.. :D

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